Iraqi civil defence forces and volunteers removed bodies from the rubble of houses on Sunday in a west Mosul area where air strikes reportedly took a devastating toll on civilians. <br/><br/>Hundreds of thousands of civilians are still trapped in Mosul, caught between advancing Iraqi forces and the Islamic State group jihadists that they are fighting to defeat.'<br/><br/>Iraqi officials and witnesses said that air strikes killed civilians in the Mosul al-Jadida area in recent days. While the number of victims could not be independently confirmed, some have put the number in the hundreds. <br/><br/>The US-led coalition against IS has indicated that it may have been responsible for at least some of the civilian deaths, and said it is conducting an investigation.''<br/><br/>Following the raids, the United Nations called on parties to the conflict to do "everything possible" to protect civilians in Mosul. <br/>''